An Unkindness of Ghosts cover art

An Unkindness of Ghosts

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

An Unkindness of Ghosts

By: Rivers Solomon
Narrated by: Cherise Boothe
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.78

Buy Now for £15.78

About this listen

Odd-mannered, obsessive, withdrawn, Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, as they accuse, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remained of her world, save for stories told around the cookfire.

Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, whom they consider to be less than human.

When the autopsy of Matilda's sovereign reveals a surprising link between his death and her mother's suicide some quarter century before, Aster retraces her mother's footsteps. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer and sowing the seeds of civil war, Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she's willing to fight for it.

©2017 Rivers Solomon (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. African American Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Opera Heartfelt Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Space Science Fiction African Fantasy
All stars
Most relevant
Humans seem to have escaped earth and are on their way to some "promised land" on a spaceship where castes, prejudices, oppression and all sorts of horrible crimes are allowed and justified under the religious empire in charge. The brilliant main character, despite the pain and impossible difficulties of continuous persecution by the rulers, follows her disappeared mother's traces and discovers unexpected truths about their voyage. With the help of friends and allies she will bring about the massive change that her mother gave start to. Both the story and the characters are quite captivating and unforgettable, the ending is bittersweet and yet satisfying.

The world on a starship towards a promised land

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was not only a beautifully written work, but also exquisitely rendered by the voice actor. You would be foolish to not listen to this magnificent story.

Wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the characters, the plot was fascinating and the ending beautiful, the narrator was also wonderful and added so much to the story. Very powerful. Sure some parts were hard to follow but everything else makes up for any discrepancies.

wow that ending...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the story, but on the performance some of the characters have an uncomfortable voice to hear.

Good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The characters are great and multidimensional (and I love that this not centered on the cis heteronorm), and it's an interesting idea with a satisfying solution. But I really struggled with the flowery style of writing and how disjointed the plot felt at times. The focus jumped between the plotlines in a way that was discouraging and I struggled to keep going.

Not very gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews